Southampton lost to Crystal Palace 0-1 in the 16th round of The Premier League, but Paulo Gazzaniga made a great impression. He made 5 world class saves and proved his qualities. His inclusion in the squad was caused by the poor form of Maarten Stekelenburg and the injury of Fraser Forster.

The Saints haven’t won a match since their 1-0 victory over Sunderland on 7th Nov. 2015. In addition, they lost 4 of their last five matches (all competitions). Ronald Koeman’s players were eliminated from The Capital One Cup after a 1-6 defeat to Liverpool. Southampton couldn’t even win against the bottom team of the standings – Aston Villa (2-2).

Spurs have been unbeaten in 14 games, but in their last match Newcastle shocked them at White Hart Lane. The Magpies scored two late goals and managed to turn things around to win the match. Ayoze Perez’s winning goal was scored in the 3rd minute of time added on and Spurs hadn’t time to respond to the challenge. However, that was Spurs’ second defeat of the season. They are the team with the highest number of draws – 8 from 16 games.

Team News

Mason and Pritchard are about to miss the game for Spurs. There is a chance Ryan Mason will be ready to play, but he won’t start.

Dembele is also sidelined for Tottenham. The Belgian player is ill, but he will be ready to play soon. Dembele has took part in 12 matches so far.

Rodriguez, Gardos and Forster for Southampton are still injured. However, Fraser Forster will struggle to find his place among the starting eleven after his recovery.

Paulo Gazzaniga is expected to be among Southampton’s starting eleven. This will be his second participation of the season.

Quotes of the week

Ronald Koeman (Southampton) :“Disappointed about the final result, but not about our performance.”

Mauricio Pochettino (Tottenham) :“But it is too early to start to speak about winning the title.”